Supply

In my humble opinion you can probably purchase truffles from any distributor as long as you make sure that they are ripe and of the right species. Once you receive your truffles, smell and color should tell you about the ripeness.  Then you should take a piece of each truffle and have it DNA tested as well as spore checked by a speciality lab to confirm the species, especially if you are planning to work with black truffles.

For the lab I have been working with Inga Meadows of North Carolina State University, but there are other labs able to do this work.

Hey Laura, I am in the process of starting a Truffière in Central New Jersey and would also like to complete the process from “soup to nuts” in house.

I was looking around for a solution to the problem your raising and I was thinking about reaching out to this Spanish company – Micologia Forestal & Aplicada – https://micofora.com/en/. However after reading this forum I may instead search for someone more local to test truffle supplies from different sources.

Good luck to all of our neighbors up north!

Dietrich, if you are directly importing into the US you do need USDA/ customs paperwork. It is more efficient to work with an expediter/ import house if you do this- but still requires a decent amount of time/ cost- so it’s not practical if you’re not bringing in Large volumes.

Even easier, if you’re bringing in small amounts (Sub 5-10 kg), to go through a distributor as Fabrice mentioned. We at Truffle Dog Co, do bring in small amounts for situations like this into the US, but not Canada at the moment.

For Canada, I’d reach out to the BC Truffle Association or Shannon Berch might be able to connect you with the producing growers to get inoculum domestically. If you’re looking for Aussie Truffle this summer for Perigord to get your hands on, shooting an email to a few of the Aussie producers who export (such as Gavin Booth at Aussie Truffle Traders) can connect you with whom they distribute through Canadian markets.

And as everyone has echoed- even if coming through a distributor, get the truffles you’re planning to use DNA tested. I see a lot of truffles come in through distributors from Europe which are not correctly categorized and mixed shipments. Trust your source, but verify 😉

Hey Laura, I agree with Fabrice. I am not sure where in Canada you are located, but it seems that the most supply of Canadian grown black truffles occurs on the West coast in BC. You could reach out to some of the truffieres there since you have a good idea they would be fresh. I cannot recommend anyone in particular though.

I am also in Canada (southern Ontario) with a similar goal to yours. Please keep the membership aware of your progress towards your goal of establishing a truffiere and I will do the same. From my experience, there is a general unwillingness to share ideas amongst many truffle farmers, which I think hurts everyone. Trying to get a foot into truffle farming can sometimes feel like a lonely experience, especially when you sit down with a banker that thinks the idea of truffles is insane!

Good luck with everything!

What was your experience like importing truffle for inoculation? I can’t tell whether you need a USDA import certificate or not.

Personally I have not imported truffle, I have purchased them from importers. From my research I don’t think there is much regulation around importing truffles.

I was required to file forms and get an importers number with the USDA to import truffles from Croatia.

As far as buying truffles to use as inoculant, be advised that it is recommended to verify type of truffles with DNA testing before using as inoculant.

Fabrice, are there any importers that you recommend?

Fran, do you remember which forms you filled out?

Customs form 5106

Unfortunately I can’t give you a name of an importer I used as I went through the help of someone else. But I am sure you could go through any local distributor. However, if your intent use is for innoculum, make sure to DNA test every single truffle.

Another source of spores that I know of is Marcos Morcillo with Micofora